By;
Amir Basiri
Last week, the Iranian regime took the ambassadors of 45 foreign
countries for a tour of the notorious Evin prison in Tehran to judge for
themselves how the state treats prisoners. The tour came one day after Javad
Larijani, the head of the Iranian regime's so-called "Human Rights
Organization," claimed there are no political prisoners in Iran.
This was an
attempt to debunk the increasing wave of international criticism at Iran's
human rights violations, especially in its prisons.
In the
evidently pre-arranged setting, visitors were taken to distinct locations where
prisoners were shown to have access to education, media, communications, and
work. Disappointingly, some of the attendants, including the ambassadors of
Indonesia, Portugal, and South Korea, praised the regime for the humane
conditions in its prisons and its treatment of prisoners, according to
state-run media.
Meanwhile,
political prisoners continue to linger under unbearable conditions in prisons
that no foreign diplomat is allowed to visit.
One example
is Majid Assadi, a
political activist who was arrested by agents of the regime's intelligence
ministry on Feb. 18. Assadi was kept in solitary confinement under severe
duress for 50 days, and was incarcerated in Evin's wards 209 and 240 for months
before being transferred to the Gohadasht prison in Karaj, west of Tehran.
Incidentally, his transfer took place a short while before the foreign
ambassadors' tour of Evin.
After
months, Assadi still awaits to be tried for charges of supporting the
opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
Assadi
previously served another four-year prison term from 2011 to 2015 for attending
a ceremony commemorating the victims of the 1999 student protests in Tehran.
Assadi is
one of the countless political prisoners who have suffered or continue to
suffer at the hands of the Iranian regime.
The regime's
treatment toward dissidents, especially members and supporters of MEK, has been
brutal throughout the years. In 1988, in a massive purge of Iran's prisons, the
regime executed 30,000 political prisoners, most being linked to MEK. Mostafa
Pourmohamadi, Iran's current justice minister, was one of the main
orchestrators of the heinous crime. Ebrahim Raisi, a presidential candidate in
the recent presidential elections,
was another key player in the event that has become known as the "1988massacre."
Recent years
have seen no decline in the harsh treatment of activists and dissidents.
A few weeks
ago, Shabnam Madadzadeh, a political activist who recently escaped Iran, gave a harrowing account of
the conditions in Gohardasht prison, where Assadi is now being held. During her
incarceration, Madadzadeh was threatened to be executed, beaten, deprived of
family visits, and phone calls, and she was kept in solitary confinement for
long periods.
In 2014, the
regime executed political prisoner
Gholamreza Khosravi, defying a widespread international campaign to
halt the sentence.
In 2012,
Sattar Beheshti, a blogger, was tortured to death in Evin prison, the same
complex that the foreign ambassadors toured, for having posted online content
that criticized the regime's judicial system.
These are
just some of the many examples of how the regime treats dissidents. The truth
is, the crimes that the Iranian regime has committed against its people and
especially in its prisons will not be washed away with any amount of charade
setups such as the one it held last week in the Evin prison.
However,
whether made out of ignorance or in hopes of currying economic and political
favors, the irresponsible remarks made by foreign diplomats will give the
regime free rein to continue persecuting, torturing and executing dissidents
while it still clings on to power.
The Iranian
people will not forget nor forgive the regime's crimes, and will not relent
until its officials are held to full account for their atrocities. The least
that the international community can do is not to attempt whitewashing the
crimes of their murderers.
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